Sunday, April 8, 2012

A day of rest...

by: Joelle Charbonneau

Happy Easter. Or Happy Passover depending on your religious affiliation. Or perhaps I should just say – happy Sunday. The day of rest.

Writers don’t get many days of rest. We have to sit at the computer when other people are frolicking through the tulips or being fed grapes while laying on a chaise lounge. (Ok…maybe the whole grape thing is just what we think other people are doing, but you get my point.) Writers don’t punch a clock, which makes it the best and worst job in the world. We can set our own schedules. Trouble with that is that lots of other things get in the way because…well…we get to set our own schedules. We can just say “I’ll do X now and write later.” It’s easy to put off the writing because there will always be time for it later. But, for me, the more I put writing off, the harder it is to get back to it.

This is why when I’m working on a manuscript I write 7 days a week. I try for a minimum of 1000 words a day. Depending on the project, I write much faster, but I never count on it, because…well…life happens. So does other work stuff. Last week, I mentioned all the other things that an author has to do. Well, I’ve had to do a lot of them in the past week and a half. Most notably, I had to proof the typeset pages for Murder for Choir and do copy edits for Skating On The Edge. Both are very important steps in the process of getting a book from the screen to the shelf. The only problem with these steps are they interrupt my 7 day a week goal on my current work in progress.

What’s a girl to do?

Well, this girl got those jobs done as efficiently as possible in order to get back to her manuscript. I sent copy edits for Skating On The Edge back to my editor Friday morning and when the tot took a nap, I opened up my computer fully preparing to launch back into my manuscript after reading my new e-mails. That’s when I learned copy edits for THE TESTING would be arriving yesterday.** I sharpened my pencil and got ready to work…but…UPS never arrived.

Huh…

Now what? Technically, I should get back to that work in progress, but knowing that I’m going to be interrupted on Monday makes me do something I almost never do. I’m taking the day off.

Time for a glass of wine. Some laughs with family. Watching baseball on the television and enjoying my son searching for Easter Eggs. Today is a holiday and I plan on celebrating it to the fullest.

So, to all of you my friends, have a wonderful Sunday. May the Easter Bunny bring you lots of chocolate rabbits (which is kind of a strange tradition when you think about the fact the Easter Bunny is bringing you one of his friends to eat) and lots of wonderful moments with your families.

**And for all you sports fans keeping track – YES, these books come out at very different times. MURDER FOR CHOIR (July 3rd, Berkley), SKATING ON THE EDGE (Oct. 2nd, Minotaur), THE TESTING (April 2013, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). The publishing process is very different for each, which just goes to show that publishing likes to keep you on your toes!

DO SOME DAMAGE

Do Some Damage is a group of crime writers, each with a different voice and something to say. From grizzled vets to grizzly rooks, they pull back the curtain on the way the industry works. Whether beating deadlines or beating characters, each week they share their thoughts on reading, writing, plot, voice and all the sordid junk that goes through a writer’s brain.